Free! Salem Swim Club
by AnimeGal93
Summary: In order to further his dream, Rin decides to move to America. The rest of the Iwatobi Swim Club decides they can't-and won't-be parted from their friend again, so they join him. Little do they know, the town they are moving to has just a bit more drama than they can handle. Free!xDays crossover. Multiple pairings. AU.
1. Prologue: You're moving to Salem?

The afternoon of a hot, summery Thursday at the Iwatobi swim club was met with tragic news. Haruka Nanase, Nagisa Hazuki, Makoto Tachibana, Rei Ryugazaki, Seijuurou Mikoshiba, and Aiichiro Nitori were all staring at Rin Matsuoka as if he'd grown a second head.

"I've decided to move to America," he'd just said. His words were met with a stunned silence that seemed to drag on for hours and was only broken by a loud sob from Nitori.

"R-Rin," Makoto stuttered. "I don't understand. Wasn't going to Australia and leaving us all behind once enough?"

"Don't you remember what happened the last time you left the country!?" Rei yelled. "Your dreams were crushed, Rin-san."

"S-Senpai, DON'T GO!" Nitori squealed between sobs. Seijuurou patted him consolingly.

Rin could no longer meet his teammates eyes. "I have to do this," he murmured. "I have to follow my dreams. I heard of this swim club in the town of Salem that has an Olympic sized pool."

"I can't let you do this Rin," Haru could be silent no longer. "Not without me. I'm coming with you."

"Haru-"

"You can't leave me again," Haru cut in firmly. He and Rin had only just found each other again. He couldn't let them be separated. Not when they were just beginning to know each other. Makoto was jealous. Secretly.

"Me too!" Nagisa cut in. "I've always wanted to go to Salem! I think I'd really fit in."

"I've memorized all the theories for living in America," Rei said with a confident nod. "I will be accompanying you if Nagisa does."

"You guys...," Rin said, touched.

"Onii-chan! You can't leave without me!"

"No, Gou. You have to stay with mom."

Gou was upset. She fell to her knees and cries. She was losing her brother all over again. He probably wouldn't even write. Seijuurou left the pool and went to Gou's side. And comforted her.

"So it's settled," Makoto said, smiling like always. "We'll all be going to the town of Salem."

"Well," Rin said. "My flight leaves in four hours, so if you're coming, you better hurry up."

There was a scramble to get out of the pool, and all the boys ran home to pack and buy plane tickets without bothering to change back into their school uniforms. There was no need for them anymore...

The flight to America was kind of tense. Rin sat between Haruka and Makoto, and he couldn't help noticing that something seemed off between them. But he couldn't place his finger on it, so he made awkward conversation.

"So, can you guys speak English?" He asked.

"Of course, we can," Makoto said, looking at Rin incredulously. The redhead raised a lofty brow. "It's true. I studied hard while you were in Australia because I was planning on visiting you." For some reason, and Rin didn't know why, this made him blush.

"Same for me," Haru interjected.

Rei piped up from the seat behind them. "I've studied all the theories of fluent American-English. I can't posisble fail."

"I'm half Italian-American," Nagisa said, as if this explained everything.

Nitori and Seijuurou said nothing. Nobody knew if they could speak English.

The plane landed. The former Iwatobi swim club disembarked, heading into a world that would change their lives forever...


	2. Chapter 1: Something's Wrong with Rin

They arrive in Salem and exit the plane. Rin announced, "I hope you all don't plan to stay in my apartment. It only has one bedroom."

Nagisa asks, "How big is the bed?"

Rin lowered his eyelids. "NOT big enough!"

All movement halted, and passerby struggled to get by the crowd of boys standing stock still in the middle of the street with their suitcases. All eyes were on Rin, and he could feel the color rising to his cheeks.

"_What_?" He finally burst out with. "Don't tell me you guys seriously intended to pile in my apartment! Didn't you stop for even a second to think this through?"

"Might I remind you that you're the one who decided to pick up and go to America for something as inane as a swimming pool," Rei cut in. Out of the corner of his eye, Rin saw Haru shoot Rei a dirty look.

"As if you're one to talk," Rin snapped back. "You're only here because Nagisa is. And besides, I didn't _ask_ you guys to tag along."

Nitori murmured something about his mother not even knowing he wasn't in Japan. The group sighed in unison. Rin's lips parted, but whatever he was about to say was cut off by the arrival of a woman, with long brown hair and a serious face. She was obviously one of the locals.

"Excuse me, boys," she said, firmly but not unkindly. "You're causing a bit of a traffic jam here, so if I could just ask you to take your discussion elsewhere..."

"Oh, right! We're very sorry!" Makoto said before Rin had the chance to. So it seems all that English studying he'd claimed to have done had paid off after all. "We'll get out of your way, ma'am." He bowed, and Rin felt his ears turn pink with secondhand embarrassment. _You idiot. We're not in Japan anymore!_ He wanted to say, but held his tongue. Makoto would get used to the customs here, he was sure.

He wasn't, however, able to suppress the urge to facepalm when all the others followed suit and bowed. The woman looked a bit taken aback. Before she could say anything, Rin hastened to explain the circumstances before his embarrassment killed him. "They're- _We're_ not from around here, so..." Makoto had straightened himself by this point and was looking around quite bemused, as if he didn't understand why Rin suddenly seemed so self-conscious.

"I kind of got that, yeah," she said with a kind smile. "You boys visiting or moving in?"

"Moving in, of course!" Nagisa said, raising his hand into the air. "We're here to join Salem High's swimming club!"

Rin supposed it _did_ sound kind of frivolous when it was put quite like that. Apparently the woman, who had yet to identify herself, thought the same. Her eyebrows raised, but she said nothing of it.

Nagisa looked like he was about to continue, but the woman's phone rang. She looked at it, and then said: "Sorry; I have to get this. Good luck, you guys. And stay out of trouble while you're here."

"Are you a police officer or something?" Rei inquired.

"Yes, I am," she said, touching the Talk button on her phone but giving them no further clues as to her identity. She tossed them a little wave and strode off.

With Rin leading the way, the boys moved out of the walkway in silence. A moment or two passed, but then the silence was suddenly broken by a frustrated sound from Rei. His suitcase fell over, and he clutched his head in his hands.

"To think that I was reprimanded by the law only a few moments after arriving in America! That's not beautiful at all!"

"Poor Rei," Nagisa said, his tone dripping with so much pity that if Rin were on the receiving end, he would probably not be able to contain the urge to punch him. "I guess all those theories didn't do you any good after all..."

Makoto smiled benignly, evidently amused by the situation, not that Rin could see anything particularly amusing about it. Apparently, Rei's fear that he might be a budding criminal was infectious, as it was Nitori's suitcase that hit the pavement next.

"What if I get arrested and they call my mother in Japan? She'll be so angry that I came out here without asking her..."

_That's something only a dumbass would do, anyway_, Rin thought to himself. "Hey, knock it off before she ends up coming back."

"You should have let Gou-kun come, Matsuoka," Seijuurou piped up. _You haven't said anything in all this time and that's what you finally come out with?_ "You should let her come."

"It's none of your business, anyway. Your fascination with my sister is creepy as hell..."

"You aren't going to make me tell her that she has to go home, are you?"

Rin opened his mouth, but his retort died on his lips as Seijuuro's wording caught up to him. His lips snapped shut and his eyes narrowed dangerously. "What do you mean '_go home_'?"

Seijuurou wordlessly crouched down next to his suitcase and unzipped it. "Come on out, Gou-kun," he said. Rin didn't even have time to question what his former swim captain was doing before his little sister came tumbling out of Seijuuro's luggage. She landed face-first on the concrete and did not move.

Nobody said anything. At first.

Nitori was the first to speak. "I told you that you should have unzipped it a little so she could breathe, captain!"

Rin's left hand shot out and yanked Nitori towards him by the collar. "You _knew_ about this, you fucking shithead?"

"Senpai pls"

"No, Nitori. I've overlooked your clinginess and creepy stalker habits. I tolerated your line-crossing and insufferably nosy questions. But if you think I'm gonna let you off for this, you have another thing coming." Rin's free hand curled into a fist and he drew it back. "You _scum_..."

"B-But, senpai, the captain was the one who-"

"And now you're looking for a scapegoat, you coward? I can't believe I ever shared a room with you!" Rin had never been so disgusted by anybody in his life. How could Nitori have betrayed him like this? "You're not the person I thought you were." The Nitori Rin knew was kind and selfless. Had America really changed him this much? Rin let his fist fly.

But it never made contact.

Seijuurou had grabbed Rin's wrist before he could carry out the act. His face was deadly serious and Rin almost wanted to shrink away.

"That's enough, Matsuoka. You've crossed a line."

Rin scoffed, teeth clenched and quite frankly he was ready to take on all of them, but he conceded and pulled away. He grabbed his duffle bag, and briskly walked away, stepping over his sister's body on the way out.

Again, it was silent for a moment as everyone seemed to turn over the events in their head.

Makoto was the first to speak what everyone was thinking. "Okay, what just happened?"

"Rin-chan was really angry...," Nagisa chimed in, looking genuinely worried. Haru said nothing, but stared at Rin's retreating form.

"For the record," Seijuurou began. "It was Gou-kun's idea to hide in my luggage. I was against the whole thing, but she insisted." He kneeled by Gou's side and turned her over onto her back. Her nose was bleeding, but she was breathing and seemed to be unharmed otherwise.

"Her nose seems to be broken," Rei said, hovering over the two and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Rin-san's being upset is understandable, but it made far more sense to lash out at Mikoshiba-san rather than Nitori. Not only that, but he didn't even bother to check on his sister. That seems rather out-of-character for him, regardless of the tough-guy front he normally exudes."

"Senpai...," Nitori whispered, his eyes downcast. "Did something happen to you?"

"But we've been right by Rin this whole time," Makoto said, putting a hand to his chin thoughtfully. "If something had happened to him to make him act strangely, wouldn't we have noticed?"

"Maybe it was something he ate on the plane!" Nagisa said.

"He didn't eat," Haru finally spoke up. That was all he said before he picked up his suitcase and followed after Rin.

"Did he just ditch us?" Seijuurou said, eyebrows furrowing at Haru's back as it grew smaller in the distance.

"Well, I suppose one of us needs to chase after him. After all, we don't even know where he's staying right now or if he's all right. If anyone should go, it should be Haru," Makoto replied, the slightly bitter tone in his voice going unnoticed by the rest of them.

"It doesn't look like we'll be able to stay with Rin-chan," Nagisa said, setting his suitcase down on the ground and sitting on it.

_I... don't think that was actually an option to begin with_, Makoto thought to himself. And that was another problem. Staying with Rin, if only long enough for the rest of them to find their own lodgings, may have been a viable option if not for this sudden turn of events. It wouldn't have been comfortable, but they could have made it work for at least a little bit. As things stood now, though, they were all stranded on the streets. "All we can really do at this point is to rely on Haru and hope he gets through to Rin."

Seijuurou hoisted Gou up over his shoulder. "Oi, move it. I don't want her nose to be stuck like this, do you? She needs a hospital."

"I don't know," Nagisa said, putting a finger to his chin in thought. "My mom always told my dad that his crooked nose gave his face character."

"Broken noses aren't beautiful," Rei said very firmly, retrieving his fallen luggage and trailing after Seijuurou, who had already begun walking in a random direction. Makoto, who could already see this situation taking a turn for the worse if somebody didn't ask for directions, picked up his own bag and sped up after them.

"Rei-chan, beauty is in the eye of the-Hey! Wait!" Nagisa stood suddenly and, gathering up his own belongings, hurried to catch up. "Come on, Ai-chan!" He called after him. Nitori trudged along behind him forlornly.

Rin all but slammed his bag against the wall of his apartment building, swearing. How could the others treat him like this? He thought they'd all turned a corner. Hadn't they reconciled at regionals? They were supposed to be friends again, but it took practically nothing for them to turn on him. Why was it always like this?

No, that's not true. Rin knew, somewhere, deep down, that he had been the one who was out of line. But his own emotions felt out of control. _He_ felt out of control. He should go back and apologize. Without Rin, the others would be lost. Alone, in a foreign country. Rin understood how that felt, and wouldn't wish it on anyone. Besides, he needed to check on Gou. He needed to get her away from Seijuurou, for starters. He could still hardly believe she'd been stuffed inside his luggage.

But again, as shitty as it had been for Nitori to conceal this from Rin, Rin knew that it was really his former captain who should have been receiving the full force of his ire. He should apologize, right?

But then, the feeling passed, and Rin was simply angry all over again. And damn it all, the apartment next door to him needed to turn down their fucking music. This was one hell of a welcome to the neighborhood.

Perhaps any other day, he could have shrugged it off. But not today, not when his patience was so unbearably thin. Not when he was so angry and he couldn't understand why, which only served to make him angrier, and boy, did Rin feel like lashing out at somebody.

He burst out of his front door on a mission and turned to the door just down the way from his. Sucking a deep breath through his nose, and frown so tight it resembled an upside-down V, he practically stomped his way over to the other door. With no hesitation, he _pounded_ on his obnoxious neighbor's door with a shout of "turn down your fucking music!".

The music immediately stopped dead, and for a moment, there was silence in the halls.

"Good," Rin seethed. "Now keep it that way. Jeez." He'd just turned to make the short return trip to his own apartment when the door swung open.

"Hey, dude, why don't you just chill out? We're not hurting anyone in here so take a chill pill, okay?"

Rin turned, and came face to face with a boy just about his age, sporting short brown hair and an attitude so bad it could rival Rin's. He could see it written on his face. Inside the apartment, he could see other teens-another boy and one girl.

He met his opponent's glare head-on. "Well, hell, I'd _love_ to chill but I can't as long as you're blaring that shitty music from your shitty speakers."

"Hey, man!" The long-haired boy inside the apartment protested. "Do you have any idea how much these cost me!?"

Rin would guess anywhere between ten and twenty dollars. "Consider yourselves lucky that I stopped by and said something before you pissed off one of your _other_ neighbors and they called the cops or something."

The boy in front of him looked over his shoulder to Long-Haired Guy. "Rory, he's right, man. You really shouldn't be blasting that music so loud, dude; we're not even supposed to be in here."

Rin was going to pretend he didn't hear that little tidbit.

"Whatever. Just keep your damn music down, okay?" Rin started off again, but the short-haired guy-probably the ring leader-clapped him on the shoulder.

"Woah, woah. Hold on a second, bro. Come on in and chill, all right? I got just the thing to loosen you up."

Rin cocked a brow at Ring Leader. "Like what?"

"You'll see, my man. You'll see."

Rin was fully prepared to stalk off and leave Delinquent-san in his dust, but as he made to do so, he caught sight of the elevator doors down the way opening. Off stepped Haru, headed Rin's way, and suddenly the red-head felt the overwhelming need to be reckless.

Gritting his teeth, Rin said, "Who are you, anyway?"

The other boy's lips curved in what was probably meant to be a charming smile. "Hey, name's JJ Deveraux. So, you in?"

There was no time. Haru would catch sight of him any minute. "Fine," Rin said, before pushing past JJ and into an apartment that smelled strongly of smoke.


End file.
